Carbon+Credit+Pursuit

Overview
The world around each of is getting more polluted as the trash in the world increases. As additional man-made materials, such as plastics and polymers, are made the numbers of materials that can be recycled are shrinking. As a students environmentalist, you need to learn how to sort out the recyclable items and the non-recyclable items, considering the best location for each item. Along the way you will earn Carbon Credits each time you collect trash and dispose of it. You will have three choices for each item. The best choice for disposing of the item will gain you 3 carbon credits, followed by the next best choice as one carbon credit and the least desirable choice as one carbon credit. Even if you choose the least desirable choice, you will earn points because you have chosen to help clean up the environment in each area of the city.

Participants will move through the Lands of Air, Water, Garbage and Recycling collecting carbon credits based on their answers to environmental etiquette questions. This environmental egame is a fun way to expose and familiarize young people with recyclable items while heightening their awareness of making good decisions for the future health of our environment. The game also reinforces the concept of value in recycling by awarding Carbon Credits for the best environmental decision. Awarding Carbon Credits in the form of an award certificate at the end of each game cycle, all participants are winners. Participants learn that they are all winners if they recycle.


 * The game is engaging, motivating participants to the finish line with the most Carbon Credit points.
 * The game is challenging because it provides players with a goal and activities that require them to move through a pre-determined environment making environmental decisions along the way.
 * The game sustains interest creating scenarios of personal interest to the players, drawing participants toward the subject matter.
 * The game includes uncertainty, including a number of possible outcomes to an activity and the desire to achieve the highest ranking while accumulating carbon credits.

Overarching Goal:
To develop an understanding and need for conserving natural resources in order to reduce the amount of recyclable garbage going into the landfill and pollutions in our water and the air.

Instructional Objective:
Students will explore varied aspects of recycling, pollution and environmental waste. They will examine the process of recycling and pollution control focusing on the benefits of the processes involved. Students will learn:
 * where garbage goes when it is thrown away and how a landfill is made.
 * what litter is and why it is bad.
 * why recycling is a solution to pollution.
 * the difference between reuse and recycle.
 * what causes pollution in our water and air and what students can do to help control it.

Learners
The Carbon Credit Pursuit eGame was created for third and fourth grade students ranging in ages from seven to ten years old. Third and fourth grade students are still extremely impressionable and are easily convinced of wrongs found in the world, especially when it has to do with their future. Hopefully, through the concepts learned and reinforced in this game, they will become crusaders for the cause, sharing their knowledge with their parents and practicing good environmental practices at home and in the community.

Context of Use
The eGame was created for use in a school setting, but would also be available for anyone to use online. Students could complete the game as individuals or work in groups sharing computers. The game could be used in learning stations or in large groups as a classroom competition on a projector screen. The game is designed to be played over and over again, giving the students the opportunity to better their Carbon Credit scores each time the game is played. A short lesson video would start each game session, students would then proceed to race through the "Land" collecting as many Carbon Credits as they could. After the games the teacher has the option of continuing the discussion with the students or assigning additional activities to compliment the lesson. The game would be written in flash and html.

Scope
The game is broken into three sections, it contains the "Land of Air", the "Land of Water", and the "Land of Garbage and Recycling". It will take from five to ten minutes to complete each section. Each section starts out with a lesson video clip that teaches a concept about the "Land" the student is currently visiting. Students will race their way through each of the three areas (lands) which will contain five scenario questions. Five different questions would randomly appear each time the game was used. Students must chose the best answer to each of the questions to earn the maximum number of Carbon Credit Points. Points will be given for all answers, so no child will finish the game empty handed. The Carbon Credit points will be totaled at the end of the game and the top tem student's point totals will appear in order of highest to lowest on the awards page. Students will receive a certificate containing their total Carbon Credits earned and the date completed.

Object of the Game
Students are working their way toward the finish line with the greatest number of Carbon Credits as a goal.

Competing Products
FootPrints in the Forrest http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/EDTEC670/Cardboard/Board/F/footprints/cnf_game.htm

Fun School Clean up the Earth Day http://funschool.kaboose.com/globe-rider/earth-day/games/game_clean_up_your_world.html

Environmental Kids Club- Recycle City http://www.epa.gov/kids/

Recycling Card Game adapted from Charles Hoskowicz http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/edtec670/Cardboard/Card/R/recycle.html

What's out there that covers the same content as this game? How is your game similar to others? How is it different and better? (You can check Downloads.com for shareware and freeware competitors, the Games Domain search engine for commercial products, and the Educational Resources catalog for school-oriented titles

Design Details
This is the heart of the document. It will serve as a blueprint for those who actually develop the game. The more specific you can be here, the less backtracking and expensive confusion there will be later. //Universal Elements// Describe and provide illustrations of the overall look and feel of the game. What style of graphics and sounds will be used? Cartoonish? Photorealistic? Wacky? Business-like? Colorful? Muted? //Specific Elements// The specifics from this point on will vary depending on the format of game that you're using. For adventure games, provide: For branching stories, provide: For quiz games, provide: For arcade games, provide: For simulations, provide: //Technical Elements// Describe the:
 * an overall map of the simulated world, showing its boundaries and major features
 * a description of the role the learner is playing while moving through the world
 * a description of the overall game goal the learner is trying to achieve
 * a flowchart showing all possible rooms and allowable moves
 * a decription of the obstacles that will challenge the learner
 * a list of all prizes or artifacts and their locations
 * profiles of all non-player characters
 * a description of the scoring system, if any
 * a sequence of sample screens showing how one moves and acts on the game
 * a flowchart of all major branches in the game
 * a description of the events within each of the major branches including the entry decision that starts the branch
 * sample screens showing a sequence of the story
 * a character dictionary describing the appearance, background, motivation, and other characteristics of everyone who appears in the story
 * a description of the categorization scheme used for questions
 * sample questions within each category showing questions at each level of difficulty
 * sample screens showing the sequence of question asking, learner input, and feedback
 * sample screens showing introductory material, high score pages, etc.
 * a description of the scoring system to be used
 * a description of the categorization scheme used for sprites moving on the screen
 * sample images within each category showing sprites at each level of difficulty
 * sample screens showing the sequence of animation, learner input, and consequences
 * sample screens showing introductory material, high score pages, etc.
 * a description of all user-manipulable variables in the game
 * a description of all output variables displayed
 * a description of the initial or default state of all variables
 * sample screens showing a sequence of situation, learner input, and result
 * sample screens showing introductory material, high score pages, etc.
 * a description of the mathematical and logical relationships that link the input variables and output variables (i.e., the underlying model of the simulation).
 * specific software needed to author the game
 * platform(s) the game would be developed for
 * file formats of graphics and sounds
 * method to accommodate multiple platforms (if that's being done)
 * data structures for any files used to save the game state

Motivational Issues
Describe how the game engages the learner. How does it make use of curiosity, challenge, control, fantasy, competition, cooperation, etc.? (No one game will do all of these things, so focus on the particular strengths of this particular game.) Make specific reference to the theoretical readings associated with this course.

Design Process
Describe the process you went through in putting the game together. What were your first thoughts? How did you enhance your ideas? What ideas did you consider and reject (and why?). How did you gather background information? What did you do to see if there are similar games out there? What did you do to get feedback on the idea? How did you flesh out the game to the point of having a playable prototype? How did you gather feedback from that? What lessons did you learn from this that you'll carry to your next game design project?